Glow felt a storm wreaking havoc inside her. Her heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, though from what, she was not entirely certain. Anger? Shock? She couldn't figure it out. As Frigga was sobbing there, clutching Horizon's charred body, Glow noticed that the audience was uncomfortably quiet, as if they weren't expecting something like this. They probably weren't. All they came here for was "entertainment." The word toiled in her head violently. She felt disgusted at the very word itself and clawed at the ground anxiously.

       Queen Scarlet stood up and yawned. "Well, that was boring." She said. Glow wanted to bury her claws into her throat and rip it out of her evil gaudy neck. Boring! BORING!? How DARE she!? He just DIED in a completely unfair fight in his mate's arms, and you call it BORING!? The SkyWing queen tilted her head up to address the prisoners and Glow could see where her gaze was scanning – the dragonets of destiny. "I hope some of you up there are braver than this pathetic creature." She called.

       Glow turned her head up to lock eyes with the queen. She didn't care if Scarlet peeled her skin off and sold her to Burn, Glow was delivering the most withering and piercing glare she could muster to make her point clear. You will regret this. Scarlet only returned her stare with a cold smile and a shiver ran down her spine. It seemed almost...affectionate? No, affectionate isn't the right word. Glow wasn't very sure, but it filled her with unease nonetheless.

       Scarlet tilted her head towards the audience. "Don't worry; we have a special treat tomorrow." She said, shaking her wings. "Something we've never seen before! Hopefully this time someone will at least try to amuse me, unlike some dragons." Turning a stern glare towards Horizon's charred body, which was being cradled by Frigga. She frowned at Peril as well who bowed in return. "Dismissed." Queen Scarlet said with a wave of her talon.

       Scarlet turned and swept back inside, while the guards were rolling Glory back inside. Glow could feel Peril slowly pad up to her and Glow turned to her with a withering look. Peril looked hurt. "Hey, um...I'm sorry." Glow's eyes softened slightly. "I...I didn't know, I just..." Glow didn't exactly forgive or trust her, but she knew that Peril was sincere. She looked toward Frigga who was still clutching Horizon tightly. Besides, it's not me she should be apologizing to. Glow simply nodded.

       Glow's thoughts were interrupted by Vermilion landing right next to her. He extended a kind talon and his gaze was sympathetic. "Hey, I'm sorry...to both of you." He apologized.

       Glow merely looked downwards. "Don't worry about me. I didn't know him personally. But her..." She said grievously, turning her head towards Frigga who was looking dead at Peril with tears and mucous staining her face, her eyes swollen with grief. "It's her you need to be concerned about." Glow finished.

       Vermilion nodded at them and folded a wing around her. "Do you want help burying the body?" He asked, concern layering his soft voice. Glow padded up to Frigga and nudged her. The pitiful IceWing simply glanced at Vermilion before nodding.

       Glow nodded in response before Glow sensed Peril's heat growing closer. Glow wondered why she hadn't sensed how powerful and overpowering it was when they first met. Maybe it's because I didn't know at the time. Maybe because I didn't know, I didn't notice. "Hey, please come with me tonight to meet Clay again." She said. Her eyes looked guilty and pleading. Glow still couldn't help feeling sorry for this lonely dragon. "I think...he'd like to meet you. And I want to talk to you again." She looked away embarrassed. "That night in the Sky City Tavern was the first time I felt like I made a real friend. I mean, there's Osprey, but I don't really talk to him that much, and he just drones on and on about law and history. There are the other soldiers, but I only ever really talk to One-Eye." She rambled. Glow gave her a look that said get to the point. Peril looked slightly injured at such a look. "What I'm trying to say is that I want to see you again. And I think Clay would really like you." 

       Glow began to think it over, glancing over at Vermilion willing her to hurry up with his eyes, carefully clutching Horizon like a newborn. I suppose I'll have to meet the other dragonets of destiny sooner or later, and I think this would be a better way to do that than looking for him myself. Glow turned to quickly reply to Peril. "Alright." Peril smiled brightly. Glow quickly cut her off from being too hopeful. "But, don't think you're off the hook. I still need to decide for myself how I feel about you now." Peril looked crestfallen, but hopeful, and nodded. Glow bounded next to Frigga, who was helping support Horizon's weight.

       Vermilion offered to Glow the other side of Horizon's support. Glow nodded and Vermilion handed her Horizon's weight while he led the way. They walked along an alleyway that seemed to lead out of the city. It was quiet and almost peaceful. And, somehow, Glow felt a little better walking there. Frigga was silent for a long time, not saying a single word as she was carrying her mate's body towards what would+ soon be his grave. Glow had never seen her teacher like this before, and it hurt her to see her proud and strong mentor so broken.

       They eventually reached their destination, and it was a surprisingly beautiful field of flowers that was beside a few mountains jutting out from the earth and the swamp of the Diamond Spray River. Glow couldn't help but marvel at the peaceful sight. Even Frigga was smiling gratefully for this wondrous scene. A couple yellow-and-black butterflies were flitting about gracefully right past Glow's nose.

       Glow wanted to say something reassuring to her master. She put her wing around the IceWing, the cold feeling much better than Peril's overbearing heat, and rested her head on Frigga's shoulder. "I think Horizon would have been happy here." Frigga looked down at her, her eyes still swollen and dark with tears. Even so, she managed to muster a weak and trembling smile for Glow. "I think he'd want to be buried somewhere this beautiful." She finished.

       Vermilion turned to face them with a melancholic smile, an uncomfortable familiarity swirling in his eyes. A realization hit Glow and she felt much more sympathy towards this dragon. He must also be in charge of disposing the bodies from the arena. She looked over the field suddenly with sadness. How many bodies lay buried beneath the ground there? She gently kneaded at the soft fresh grass beneath her. Or does he simply dispose of them on Scarlet's orders and this is the first time he's performing a proper burial? Either way, she knew they couldn't dwell here for very long. Frigga needed to rest her mind as well as her body, no doubt weighed and exhausted by her fresh and raw grief.

       Vermilion tapped Frigga gently. "You can pick where you want him to be buried. I have a feeling you'd know him well enough to be able to choose that for him." Frigga's lip quivered with the threat of a quiet weep and she nodded, clutching her SandWing mate close. Glow heard her whisper something to him, but she couldn't hear what. As Frigga was searching, dragging his black and scorched body with her, Glow's heart was breaking. She could feel how much this weighed on her. He was the last link to her family life, and not only is Horizon dead; Glass is missing, too. Glow hung her head low in respect for her teacher. She gave up everything to escape the war. She lost everything that she cared about. And yet, she still decided to raise us. Frigga paused beneath a small lone willow tree near some clumps of Lamb's Ear (a soft cactus that feels as soft as what it was named after) and laid Horizon down gently beneath the tree.

       It was odd. Had Horizon not been covered in scorch marks, Glow might have assumed he was asleep. But the reality was not as peaceful or calm as what either she or Frigga had witnessed. Frigga looked back at them and nodded. Vermilion dipped his head and padded towards her.

       He moved Horizon's body off of the mound and started to dig. Frigga and Glow soon joined him, unearthing and scooping moist clumps of dirt out of the ground. Glow's arms were beginning to ache by the time they were halfway done, but Frigga didn't seem fazed. When Glow was too tired to dig anymore, she turned to Horizon while Vermilion and Frigga dug his grave, and she silently wished him well. She didn't know why, after all, ghosts and spirits of dragons were simply stories. But some part of her was always comforted by the possibility that there was something else on the other side, and that her loved ones would never leave her no matter what.

       Eventually they all finished digging Horizon's grave, and Frigga gently placed him down into it. The hole was the perfect size, morbidly enough, and Horizon was placed inside with his arms folded against his chest and his wings folded against his sides peacefully. Glow turned to Frigga, who simply nodded, and Vermilion and Glow began to push the dirt into the mound to bury Horizon. Glow could hear Frigga whimpering sorrowfully, and kept scooping the dirt into the grave, wanting the task to be over and done with.

       Glow couldn't fight back the tears anymore, and they started leaking down her face as she buried the SandWing beneath the earth. She didn't make a sound, not a sniffle, not a breath. The tears simply rolled down her cheeks into the soil. Eventually, her and Vermilion managed to compact the dirt into the earth, the blood red poppies surrounding them, but the Lamb's Ear at the bed of his grave. When Glow and Vermilion stepped back, she realized that Frigga really did choose a good spot. The tree looked like it was shielding him from the heavens above and was almost cradling the grave.

       Vermilion and Glow bowed their heads in respect to the SandWing and Frigga simply snuffled and wept quietly, broken, shattered, and drained. If grief had a face, Glow would picture Frigga as the contender. Minutes went by before Frigga finally spoke, and when she did, she was quiet, and her voice was cracking with raw emotion. "I remember when I was young." She started. Glow turned to meet her forlorn gaze. "It was about eleven years ago when I wanted to take him as the love of my life, but he was not the first I had." She admitted. This genuinely surprised Glow, but she felt it would be inappropriate to comment, so she kept quiet. "I cared for him as well, but I just found that Horizon was the better mate. However, once I had his son, and after the death of my mother," she added with a pause. "I knew I couldn't handle being in the war anymore. He understood, though he was incredibly saddened.

       "When I started training Whitecap, I began to send him to Glass and Horizon to give them letters, so I kept in contact with them. But Whitecap told me that they were going on a dangerous mission, so letters wouldn't be able to reach them anymore." Frigga's shoulders trembled. "I now see what has truly happened..." She said, crumpling to the ground in a mess of tears and wails.

       Vermilion propped her up onto his shoulder. "Alright, let's get you back to the palace. We shouldn't be staying here for long." He said firmly, motioning Glow to support Frigga's other side. Frigga nodded towards Glow and she nodded back in return. Glow's heart felt heavy as they trodded back up the pathway towards the palace, her master's pain weighing even more heavily than the IceWing's weight itself. Glow knew it would take time for Frigga to recover and for her to come to terms with Horizon's death.

       Once they reached the palace, Vermilion paused at the palace entrance. "Hey, Glow." He said, getting her attention, though she didn't have enough energy to properly respond. "After I take your teacher up to her dorm to rest, would you mind having another history lesson?" He smiled hopefully. Glow simply looked up at him dully. Vermilion sighed and held her talon in his. "Look, I know this was rough. But dwelling on it won't help anyone, and it certainly won't help you feel any better." He said, looking her directly in the eye, as if he was speaking from experience. "So, let me help you cheer up, or at least distract you from this for now. If you want to talk about this later, I'm here to listen. Okay?" He said.

       Glow simply nodded in response. "Okay." She said simply. Vermilion smiled and let go of her talon.

       "Alright, I'm going to take Frigga up into the palace and then I'll come back down to give you your next SkyWing history lesson." He said calmly. He helped support Frigga's weight up the stairs, though Glow's mind was still dulled. She did, however, feel a smidge better at the prospect of learning more about SkyWing history with Vermilion.

       Though her heart felt heavy, there was one thing that was bothering her. Horizon was about to say something before he died, and it sounded important, something related to Frigga. Glow couldn't figure out what it was, but figured that now wasn't the time. I'll figure this out later once I'm thinking a lot clearer.